Valve head: 'Windows 8 is a catastrophe' for PC gaming

Newell not a happy bunny

Speaking at the Casual Connect game conference, he told delegates that the issues presented by Windows 8 are part of the reason behind Valve's Linux push.

It's the closed nature of the Windows 8 store that Newell has a major problem with, explaining that part of Valve's success to date has been down to the openness of the PC platform.

But the success of 'walled gardens' like Apple's iOS ecosystem has turned heads because developers "look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors' access to the platform, and they say 'That's really exciting.'"

Valveless

He predicted, "We'll lose some of the top-tier PC/OEMs, who will exit the market. I think margins will be destroyed for a bunch of people."

Moving to the Linux platform is a "a hedging strategy" for Valve in the face of Windows 8, he added.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well," he said.